


Hot Chocolate

by Vampiricalthorns



Series: Solangelo One-Shots [15]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Genderfluid!Nico di Angelo, M/M, Nico has a webcomic okay, trans!will solace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 01:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14033292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampiricalthorns/pseuds/Vampiricalthorns
Summary: Alternate Title: Author Can't Really Title Thing But Pretends Very Well





	Hot Chocolate

“Hey, girlie! I wanna talk to you.”

 

Nico sighed and stood up. He started trudging out of the lecture hall while closing the flap on his bag. He hadn’t done anything to deserve this, nothing to deserve having one of the biggest dicks on campus stalk him, calling him girly when he so clearly wasn’t and not understanding that “no” actually means, you guessed it, no.

 

He felt a hand latch onto his shoulder. Goddangit, there he was … as usual.

 

He turned around and glared at Creepy Guy; a very fitting nickname he had given the guy and referred to him as. Come to think of it, Creepy Guy should become a minor arc opponent in his webcomic if he found a fitting place for him. Nico made a mental note to do that later- later meaning once he was safely back in his dorm.

 

“What do you want?” Nico asked through gritted teeth. “Haven’t I told you to leave me alone like twenty times? No means no. And don’t call me girlie, you dick.”

 

“I want you to go on a date with me. One date and I’ll leave you alone after that,” Creepy Guy said, ignoring the insults that Nico threw at him while making a sad attempt at wrapping his arm around Nico’s shoulder.

 

Nico glared up at him and moved out of his reach, turned the other way and walking away as he said, “I said no, you dick. I told you to leave me alone.”

 

He had only gotten a couple meters away from the loser before his vision flickered for a moment and a sharp pain in his back and arms forced the air out of his lungs for a moment. He opened his eyes again and glared murderously up at Creepy Guy who had pushed him into the alleyway between two of the campus buildings. He tried to free his wrists from the dick’s grip on them but stopped when the pain on the back of his forearm intensified. Of all campus buildings he could be trapped in-between, one of them had to be uncovered brick.

 

_Didn’t I tell you to go away?_

 

“I said, I want you to go on a date with me, therefore you will go on a date with me, understood?” Creepy Guy hissed, pressing his face up close to Nico, exposing him to the overwhelmingly strong smell of cigarette smoke.

 

Nico tried to not gag; he hated the reek of cigarette smoke for multiple reasons and he didn’t want to give Creepy Guy the satisfaction of reacting to it.

 

“I said, did you understand me, _girlie_?” Creepy Guy hissed again, his eyebrows furrowing more in anger when Nico refused to answer. He sure is used to getting his way, isn’t he, Nico thought, debating kicking the guy between the legs. But even if he could get away then, he would only risk getting harassed more in the future and he didn’t want that to happen. Not when he already had so much on his plate.

 

_Go away and leave me alone._

 

“Babe? What are you doing there?”

 

Nico looked up and to his left. A blonde guy holding a coke can was standing there staring at them, hesitating for a moment before walking over to them. It was clear he had heard what Creepy Guy had been saying to him. But why would he want to get involved? Nico didn’t get people sometimes.

 

Nico swallowed hard, guessing he should try to play along with the stranger. “He’s trying to convince me to go on a date with him, but I think his ears are so clogged up he didn’t quite hear me when I told him I had a boyfriend like 20 times, on several different occasions.”

 

_Please help me. I’ve never seen you before and you might be just as bad as Creepy Guy but you don’t seem like it so please get me away from this guy._

 

The stranger frowned and then looked at Creepy Guy. “Would you please mind releasing my boyfriend? I don’t think he likes having his bare arms scratched up against a rough brick wall.”

 

Creepy Guy glared at Nico, but eventually- after what felt like hours -he felt the pressure around his wrists lessen. He had half a mind to kick the guy between the legs and make him feel the physical version of the mental pain he was in but restrained himself, instead choosing to inspect his arms for any wounds. He couldn’t see any apart from the classic white “I chose to pet a brick wall” scratches.

 

_What did I ever do to deserve this?_ Nico thought, trying to keep his thoughts from going into full panic mode.  _I didn’t do anything wrong to him, so why does he have to harass me like this. If there was one thing I did not need today it was this douchebag fucking with my emotions._

 

“Honey, your wrist is bleeding,” Stranger said, pointing to Nico’s right wrist. Nico sighed and looked at the wound. It’s wasn’t big, more like a slightly deep scratch if anything. The other common “I chose to pet a brick wall” injury. He sighed again. “I’ll fix it later. It’s not deep.”

 

“I should have band-aids somewhere,” Stranger muttered, opening his messenger bag and bringing out a small first-aid kit. _Is he one of the med students or something_ , Nico wondered briefly. _Not important, what matters is that Creepy Guy fucks off right now because I do not feel like having my anxiety get the better of me._

 

Creepy Guy turned back to the stranger again, this time armed with a stronger and meaner glare that Nico was convinced was making Creepy Guy’s eyes hurt.

 

_Can you just fuck off so I can calm down in peace_. Nico hadn’t been quite aware of how shallow his breath had become.

 

“So, you’re girlie’s boyfriend, huh? I didn’t think she would go for someone like you.”

 

That stung. Nico was well aware he had a feminine build, but he was not a girl, even if he chose to wear feminine clothing sometimes. He was genderfluid, usually male or agender, and being called a girl when he so clearly wasn’t, especially right now, stung.

 

Stranger glared back. “And what’s that supposed to mean? You don’t go harassing my boyfriend, even if he had been single. It’s just not a thing you do. So please fuck off and stop harassing people before I report you to the university administration.”

 

Creepy Guy glared at both of them but sulked away to what Nico thought was either his dorm or the gym.

 

He turned back to the stranger and smiled slightly, taking the band-aid stranger was holding out towards him. “Thanks for saving me. That dick has been harassing me since the start of the year, not even kidding.”

 

Stranger frowned. “You should have reported him to the school administration and they would have taken care of him.”

 

Nico nodded. “I know. I kinda hoped he would just give up, but yeah, he didn’t so I just learnt to deal with it, even if it was kinda really fucking annoying.”

 

Stranger held out a hand to shake Nico’s. “But never mind that, I’m Will. Nice to meet you.”

 

Nico shook Will’s hand. “Nico.”

 

“Do you mind getting a coffee with me? You look like you could need one and I owe you that much,” Nico offered, letting a weak smile slip onto his face.

 

Will shrugged. “Sure, why not. I don’t have a class until four so I think that’s very manageable.”

 

**

 

“So, what are you studying here?” Will asked, stirring his hot chocolate. “I mean, I haven’t seen you in any of the med classes so I’m gonna take a wild guess on the fact that you’re not studying medicine.”

 

Nico pulled out a pencil and twirled it between his fingers. “I major in art and take evening English classes to learn the language properly.”

 

Will nodded in understanding. “So, where are you from? France? Or maybe Italy?”

 

“Italy,” Nico confirmed. “I was born there, but I moved to the US with my dad and sister when I was ten.”

 

“What about your mom?” Will asked curiously. “Why didn’t she move with you?”

 

Nico tensed up; he hadn’t talked about this in so long. “She died. She had a heart condition that we didn’t know about before she died. Dad couldn’t handle the loss so we moved here to get a new start. I got into drawing and my sister into scouting.”

 

Will nodded again, sipping his hot chocolate. “And your sister, is she well?”

 

Nico tensed up even more. “No. She died a year after we moved here. She was bitten by a really venomous snake and her heart couldn’t handle it so she died after 12 days in the Intensive Care Unit. We knew she had the heart condition but she was getting treated for it but-” Nico blinked a couple times to fight off tears. “-but in the end, it wasn’t enough and she died right before Christmas that year.”

 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Will said quietly. “I’m also sorry for bringing it up.”

 

“No worries,” Nico assured him. “Really, it happened a long time ago and I’m at peace with it now.”

 

“Yeah okay,” Will agreed, and took yet another- this time too big – slurp of coffee, making Nico laugh.”

 

“It’s hot,” Nico said, sticking his tongue out at Will. “But yeah, anyways. How do you pay for school now? Like, do you work or do your parents pay for you?”

 

Will looked thoughtful for a moment. “I got a scholarship for my first two years here, but I do work part-time to afford personal expenses and to save up for the rest of my education. I want to become a doctor, like one that works with severely sick children in the hospital. What about you?”

 

“Well, I work a part-time job now as a waiter in an Italian restaurant downtown but I plan to become a freelancer, doing art. I do make a webcomic already now though. You might have stumbled across it if comics interest you.”

 

Will tapped his fingers on the table next to his cup. “I do enjoy comics so I might actually have read it at some point. What’s it called?”

 

“Unnamed,” Nico mumbled, bending down to retrieve his sketchbook from the bag resting on the side of the chair. He had a couple ideas for a panel in it and wanted to show Will in case he had actually heard about it. “I’ve been kinda sucky about giving longer updates lately because of Creepy Guy harassing me.”

 

Nico sat up straight again holding the sketchbook. The sight that met him, was Will gaping at him, one hand half-way stretched out for his cup of hot chocolate. “No way. You write Unnamed? It’s literally one of my favourite webcomics of all time. Did I really just meet the artist of my favourite webcomic? That’s so cool!”

 

_He is kinda really attractive and such a nerd. I like it_ , Nico thought before laughing softly and composing himself again. “It’s not that big of a deal, honestly. It’s just something I’m trying to do to test the waters of what it’s like working as a freelancer.”

 

“No, but really, though. That’s really cool.” Will paused for a second, looking uncertain. “Can I get your number or any other kind of contact information because you’re kinda really cool, and yeah.”

 

“It’s okay if you never wanna see me again,” Will added quickly, making Nico laugh again.

 

“No, stupid, of course, you can have my number. I think you’re really, really cool too. Don’t worry about it.”

 

Will pulled out his phone and handed it to Nico after finding the “add new contact” screen. “Just type in your number and text me something.”

 

_Gawd, why is he so nice_ , Nico thought while typing in his number and sending the stereotypical “hi :)”. A minute later, he felt the phone in his jacket buzz and he pulled it out, replying to Will’s text with the exact same text. Handing Will’s phone back to him, he emptied his cup and sighed. “I have to go. My next class starts soon.”

 

Will checked the time and frowned slightly. “Shit, same. I don’t wanna be late for dissecting naked guys.”

 

Nico snorted. “Just my luck. I have to draw naked guys.”

 

Will raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s interesting. Being gay. And dissecting naked dead dudes. Can you beat that?”

 

Nico choked softly but quickly covered it up with a cough. “You’re gay?”

 

Will nodded. “Gay and proud. But yeah, can you beat my anguish?”

 

Nico grinned. He knew his grin could be creepy but rn he enjoyed this too much. He would definitely win this. “How about drawing alive naked guys while being gay?”

 

Will snorted. “No way. That’s so much worse. I feel really bad for you now.”

 

“You really should,” Nico agreed while standing up and hoisting his bag onto his shoulder. “But yeah, I really should be going.”

 

Will waved at him. “See ya later, Nico. It was really nice meeting and getting to know you a bit.”

 

Nico waved back, fighting the blush as he left.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Tumblr: https://winglessvampire.tumblr.com


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